Today in #History for May 28, 2016

Irvin McDowell

May 28, 585 BC - A solar eclipse in Asia Minor occurred, leading to a battle truce, and historical astronomy has set May 28th, 585 BC as the likely day for this event. This became a cardinal point from which other dates in ancient history have been calculated.

May 28, 1754 – In the first engagement of the French and Indian War, Virginia militia under 22-year-old Lieutenant colonel George Washington defeated a French reconnaissance party and Indian scouts in the Battle of Jumonville Glen in what is now Fayette County in southwestern Pennsylvania.

May 28, 1828 – A United States arsenal was established at Mt. Vernon, Ala., near the juncture of the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers. It had previously been the headquarters for General Claiborne in the Creek War of 1813-1814. In 1873, the Arsenal was converted into a barracks, which from 1887 to 1894 housed Apache Indian prisoners, including Geronimo. In 1895 the land was conveyed to the State of Alabama and became the site of the Mt. Vernon Hospital.

May 28, 1830 – U.S. President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act which relocated Native Americans. The policy primarily affected five tribes: the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole nations of the southeastern United States.

May 28, 1832 – Confederate officer William Hugh Means King was born in Madison in Morgan County, Ga. He would go on to serve as captain of Co. H of the 5th Georgia Regiment and organized a company of infantry called the Hardee Rifles in Georgia. The unit mustered in at Pensacola, Fla. on May 12, 1861, and King was cited for gallantry at Santa Rosa Island, Fla. He was promoted to major and served as brigade adjutant for Gen. R.H. Anderson, Brigadier General Kirby Smith and General Braxton Bragg. He was ordered to collect scattered cavalry troops and report to Gen. Joseph Wheeler, where he served until the end fo the war. King was a graduate of State University of Georgia in Athens and was a lawyer, Mayor of Evergreen and served as principal of the Evergreen Academy. He passed away in Evergreen at the age of 82 on June 3, 1914 (some sources say June 5) and he was buried in the Old Evergreen Cemetery.

May 28, 1861 – During the Civil War, Robert Anderson assumed command of the Department of Kentucky. Irvin McDowell assumed command of the Department of Northeastern Virginia. Confederates seized the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from Point of Rocks to Cumberland Maryland.

May 28, 1862 - Since long before the Revolutionary War, it had been the tradition in British naval service to issue sailors a ration of a pint of rum per day at sea. This tradition had carried over to American sailors. Not willing to leave a good thing alone, Asst. Navy Sec. Fox wrote on this day to a senator, “I beg you for the enduring good of the service, to abolish the spirit ration and forbid any distilled liquors being placed on board any vessel belonging to the United States, excepting of course the Medical Department. All insubordination, all misery, every deviltry on board ships can be traced to rum.” The forces of enforced temperance would eventually prevail.

May 28, 1863 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Florence, Ala.

May 28, 1863 - The 54th Massachusetts Infantry, the Army’s first black regiment, left Boston for combat in the South when they marched onto a steamer and set sail for Port Royal, South Carolina. The unit saw action right away, taking part in a raid into Georgia and withstanding a Confederate attack near Charleston, South Carolina. The story the 54th Massachusetts was immortalized in the critically acclaimed 1990 movie Glory, starring Mathew Broderick, Denzell Washington, and Morgan Freeman.

May 28, 1863 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought near Fort Gibson in the Indian Territory.

May 28, 1863 – During the Civil War, the siege of Vicksburg, Miss. entered its tenth day.

May 28, 1864 – During the Civil War, skirmishes were fought at Jones's Farm, Totopotomoy River, Crump's Creek and Haw's Chop in Virginia.

May 28, 1865 – During the Civil War, a skirmish was fought at Sweetwater Station, Wyoming.

May 28, 1878 – French sinologist and explorer Paul Pelliot was born in Paris, France. He is best known for his explorations of Central Asia and his discovery of many important Chinese texts among the Dunhuang manuscripts.

May 28, 1885 – Major C.L. Scott of Monroeville and his private secretary, Col. B.L. Hibbard, were to set sail from New York for Caracas on this day. Earlier in the month, U.S. President Grover Cleveland appointed Scott to be U.S. Minister to Venezuela.

May 28, 1887 - Olympic athlete, baseball and basketball player Jim Thorpe was born in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma.

May 28, 1892 – In San Francisco, John Muir organized the Sierra Club.

May 28, 1892 – German SS general Sepp Dietrich was born in Hawangen, Bavaria, German Empire.

May 28, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported that A.T. Sowell had accepted a position as salesman for the Bear Creek Mill Co.

May 28, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported that J.S. Lambert of Mount Pleasant was in Atlanta, Ga., being treated by the doctors of the National Surgical Institute.

May 28, 1896 – The Monroe Journal reported, in news from the Manistee community, that the Bear Creek Mill was running regular after some repairs.

May 28, 1902 - Owen Wister’s “The Virginian” was published by Macmillan Press. It was the first “serious” Western and one of the most influential in the genre.

May 28, 1907 - Journalist Eddy Gilmore was born in Selma, Ala.

May 28, 1908 - Author, journalist and “James Bond” creator Ian Fleming was born in London.

May 28, 1909 – The Conecuh Record reported that 1.5 inches of rain fell in Evergreen, Ala. and about four inches fell on the following day.

May 28, 1913 – Poet May Swenson was born in Logan, Utah.

May 28, 1916 – Novelist Walker Percy was born in Birmingham, and he is best known for his 1961 novel, “The Moviegoer.”

May 28, 1922 - Alabama author John Allan Wyeth died in New York, N.Y.

May 28, 1929 – Conecuh County High School in Castleberry, Ala. was scheduled to hold graduation exercises and the commencement address was to be delivered by Dr. E.C. Moore, president of the Downing-Shofner Institute of Brewton. Also that night, CCHS principal G.M. Veazey was to deliver diplomas to 13 seniors. Members of the senior class included Anna Ree Brandon, Harvey Beard, Jessie Mae Ellis, Emma Lee Holland, Earle Howington, Ralph Howington, Lottie Lynch, Allene Miniard, Charles Price, Mary Ester Stapleton, Lillie Belle Stone, Hazel Clair Riley and Ercie Ward.

May 28, 1935 - John Steinbeck’s first successful novel, Tortilla Flat, was first published.

May 28, 1937 – The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, was officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington, D.C., who pushed a button to signal the start of vehicle traffic over the span.

May 28, 1940 – During World War II, Belgium surrendered to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.

May 28, 1941 - The first night baseball game in Washington, D.C. took place. The Yankees beat the Senators, 6-5, at Griffith Stadium.

May 28, 1942 – During World War II, in retaliation for the assassination attempt on Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis in Czechoslovakia killed over 1,800 people.

May 28, 1945 – The USS Eldridge departed New York City for service in the Pacific. En route to Saipan in July, it made contact with an underwater object and immediately attacked, but no results were observed.

May 28, 1946 - The first night game in the original Yankee Stadium took place. The Senators beat the Yankees, 2-1.

May 28, 1948 - Graduation exercises at Conecuh County Training School were scheduled to be held in the school auditorium on this Friday at 8 p.m. Dr. Robert C. Hatch, Supervisor of Instruction of the Division of Negro Education, State Department of Education, Montgomery, Ala., was to deliver the commencement address. Fifty-three students were scheduled to receive diplomas.

May 28, 1950 – On this Sunday afternoon, the Evergreen Greenies of the Dixie Amateur League were scheduled to play a doubleheader against Bay Minette in Bay Minette, Ala.

May 28, 1951 - Batting for the New York Giants against the Boston Braves, Alabama native Willie Mays got his first hit in the Major Leagues--a home run. Born near Birmingham, the "Say Hey Kid" went on to be named National League Rookie of the Year and hit 660 homers in a legendary Hall of Fame career.

May 28, 1956 - Dale Long became the first player to hit home runs in eight consecutive games.

May 28, 1957 - National League club owners voted to allow the Brooklyn Dodgers to move to Los Angeles and that the New York Giants could move to San Francisco.

May 28, 1959 – Lyeffion High School’s graduation ceremony was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. in Lyeffion, Ala. Dr. L.Y. Trapp of Troy State Teachers College was to deliver the graduation address, and Principal J.O. Yawn was to pass out diplomas to 28 graduates. Carolyn Brown was the valedictorian, and Betty Jane Riley was the salutatorian.

May 28, 1959 - Two monkeys, Able and Baker, became the first living creatures to survive a space flight. Their voyage reached speeds of 10,000 mph and lasted 15 minutes. Miss Baker, a squirrel monkey, and Miss Able, a rhesus monkey, took a historic flight into space aboard a Jupiter rocket. It was the first NASA mission in which living mammals returned alive following a flight in space. Following her trip to space, Miss Baker became an attraction at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, where she lived for 25 years. She died in 1984 of kidney failure. (Miss Able died a few days after the flight, during a medical procedure to remove an electrode.) Miss Baker was inducted into the Alabama Animal Hall of Fame in 2005.

May 28, 1965 – Evergreen High School was scheduled to hold graduation exercises on this Friday night in Memorial Gymnasium at 8 p.m. Kay Holman was the valedictorian, and Nancy Nix was the salutatorian. Sixty-five students were expected to receive diplomas.

May 28, 1965 – Conecuh County High School in Castleberry, Ala. was scheduled to hold graduation exercises on this Friday night at 8 p.m. Donald Sawyer was the valedictorian, and Jimmy Oliver was the salutatorian. Twenty-nine seniors were expected to receive diplomas.

May 28, 1968 – Atomic submarine USS Scorpion, with a crew of 99, failed to return to its homeport in Norfolk, Va., seven days after sending its last routine message 250 miles west of the Azores. Presumed lost on June 5, a naval oceanographic research ship several months later would find its wreckage at more than 10,000 feet on the edge of the Sargasso Sea. The reason for its sinking remains undetermined.

May 28, 1969 – Army Cpl. Clarence Taylor of Greenville, Ala. was killed in action in Vietnam.

May 28, 1969 – During the Vietnam War, U.S. troops abandoned Ap Bia Mountain. A spokesman for the 101st Airborne Division said that the U.S. troops “have completed their search of the mountain and are now continuing their reconnaissance-in-force mission throughout the A Shau Valley.”

May 28, 1974 – John Drew of Beatrice, Ala. was drafted in the second round of the NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks.

May 28, 1988 – Major League Baseball relief pitcher Craig Kimbrel was born in Huntsville, Ala. During his career, he has played for the Atlanta Braves, the San Diego Padres and the Boston Red Sox.

May 28, 1993 – English amputee and sprint runner Jonathan “Jonnie” Peacock was born in Cambridge, England. An amputee and sprint runner, he won gold at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, representing Great Britain in the T44 men's 100 metres event.

May 28, 1995 - The White Sox and the Tigers combined for 12 home runs at Tiger Stadium.

May 28, 2002 – The last steel girder was removed from the original World Trade Center site. Cleanup duties officially end with closing ceremonies at Ground Zero in Manhattan, New York City.

May 28, 2004 – The Iraqi Governing Council chose Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq's interim government.

May 28, 2006 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants hit his 715th career home run, allowing Bonds to pass Babe Ruth on the all time list into second place.

May 28, 2012 – The Conecuh County Veterans Monument was officially dedicated during special ceremony attended by over 100 people.